You can make decisions about all aspects of your life: e.g., your healthcare, food, activity preferences, visitors, when you go to bed and when you get up.

You can not be held in the facility against your will, even if you have a guardian.

You have the right to be free of interference, coercion, discrimination, and reprisal in exercising your rights.

You have the right to participate in your care conferences and be involved in planning your care on an ongoing basis.

You have the right to be informed in advance about care and treatment and any changes that affect your well being.

You have the right to refuse care.

You have the right to request your records and receive them within twenty-fours hours.

You must be informed in writing in a language understandable to you (before admission and once every two years) about services, items, and activities that the facility offers and what they cost.  This also includes services, items, and activities not covered by state and federal programs (e.g., Medicare and Medicaid) or included in the basic daily rate.

In general, you must receive thirty days’ advanced written notice of any changes in availability or charges for services, items, activities, or of changes in the facility’s rules.

You have the right to be informed that the facility’s latest survey or inspection is available and the right to examine it, including any plans of correction.

You have the right to be treated with respect and dignity.

Staff must seek your permission before entering your room.

Your written consent is required before your personal and clinical records can be released to anyone outside the facility unless otherwise provided by law.

You have the right to organize and participate in resident groups in the facility.

Families may also meet in the facility with the families of other residents.

The facility must provide a resident or family group with meeting space.

You have the right to retain and use personal possessions and furnishings, as space permits.

You have the right to a lockable space for small items of personal property.

You have the right to refuse to perform services for the facility, unless you voluntarily have given agreement.

The facility must have a system for full, complete, and separate accounting of your personal funds.

Your individual financial record must be made available to you upon request.

You have the right to be free from a physical or chemical restraint.

Prior to admission, you have the right to receive in writing, in an understandable language, a statement of the amount of any admission fees, deposits, pre-paid charges, or minimum stay fees required by the facility and what portion of these charges will be refunded if you leave the facility.

The facility shall also disclose to you, in advance of your stay, the facility’s advance notice or transfer requirements.

If the facility does not provide these written disclosures to you prior to admission, you have the right to any deposits, admission fees, prepaid charges, or minimum stay fees you paid to the facility.

All refunds due are required to be refunded by the facility within thirty days from the date of your discharge.

If you are hospitalized, transferred to another facility for more appropriate care, or die, the facility must refund any monies you have paid less the facility’s per diem rate for the days you resided, reserved or retained a bed in the facility, minus an amount not to exceed five days’ per diem charges to cover its reasonable, actual expenses as a result of your move.

Upon your death, the facility must convey within forty-five days, any personal funds under the management of the facility and a final accounting of those funds to the entity administering your estate.

You have the right to remain in the facility, unless: